Darren Fox

Name: Darren Fox

Gender: Male

Age: 18

Grade: 12th grade

School: Aurora High School

Hobbies and Interests: art, video games, ten-pin bowling, badminton, Ju-Jitsu, diving, railway systems, making lists of meaningless stuff

Appearance: Darren stands at a below-average height of merely 5'9", however with his weight at 169lb, he is slightly heavier than what he should really be. The bulk of said weight is positioned around his calves and thighs - fat as well as muscles built up from extensive walking to and from school in his youth, though he also has a slight belly. His arms aren't as well-built as his legs, but they still have some muscle on them, built up through regular badminton playing. His skin is fairly pale and is often prone to burning if he's in the sun for too long. He has numerous freckles covering his lower arms, and had several across his rounded face, though those have since faded and are just barely visible up close.

The biggest thing that stands out about Darren though is his brilliant wavy ginger hair, which runs down to just below his jawline at the back and just covers the tops of his ears at the sides. His fringe reaches down to eye level, but is sloppily brushed to one side (which side it's swept to varies day by day) so it doesn't get in the way of his vision. His eyebrows are quite thick and, in contrast to his hair, are a golden blond color. They slant gently downwards towards the middle, so even when he's calm and his expression is neutral, it looks like he's frowning. His eyes are a bright blue-grey color, with eyelids that droop down and give him a perpetually tired look. There is some redness around the bottom eyelids sometimes, where he's missed some sleep either playing video games or surfing the internet late into the night.

His nose is quite large and, on closer inspection, is ever so slightly crooked to the left, an attribute he really dislikes. He is in the middle of growing out a short mustache, which is stubbly and of a ginger color closest to his nostrils, but fades to a golden color towards the corners of his lips. His beard is also short and matches his hair in color, stretching from ear to ear. He does shave however, mostly under his chin and at the top of his neck to keep his beard tidy. He has a few pockmarks up by his temples and a couple on his cheeks from a bad acne outbreak a couple of years back.

Clothing wise, Darren will mostly wear T-shirts or polo shirts of various colors, blue jeans and white tennis shoes. He never leaves home without a silver analogue watch on his left wrist. He has no piercings or tattoos, and he doesn't plan on getting any either. On the day of the trip, he was wearing his regular jeans, a new pair of grey tennis shoes, a white T-shirt with a navy blue stripe running horizontally across the chest, and his watch.

Biography: Darren was born March 4th 1994 to Noel and Tanya Fox, and was the youngest of four siblings; Harry, 18 years older; Isabella, older by 16 years, and Rachael, 12 years his senior. Despite the large age gap between him and his brother and sisters, Darren got along with them very well. Even when they moved out and got their own places nearby (Harry when Darren was 6; Rachel when he was 8, and lastly Isabella when he was 12), Darren and his parents still kept in touch very often and saw them almost every fortnight. As for his parents, Darren generally gets on with them, though he does regard them as old-fashioned and they sometimes don't see eye-to-eye.

For the first couple of years, everything was normal. However, as Darren grew up and started school, his parents noticed he was exhibiting odd behavior. He was extremely quiet; hardly talking at all, keeping to himself and barely interacting with the other children in his classes. He paid little attention to the teachers in class as well, often in his own little world and staring into space a lot of the time. He was also clumsy, dropping things a lot and walking into door-frames, misjudging the space around him. However, he was a bright kid and loved to read a lot, usually found with a large pile of books by his bed of a nighttime. Darren's parents took him to a psychiatrist, where after numerous sessions, he was formally diagnosed with mild Asperger's Syndrome. Darren's elementary school was notified of his condition, and he attended regular specialist classes that dealt with communication and social development. Darren, however, never thought much of any of this, believing them to simply be games and nothing more.

Darren developed an affinity for railway networks when he turned 10, often looking at maps and timetables of systems like the New York Subway, the London Underground and the Tokyo Subway. He would sometimes write down line diagrams, list stations and their interchanges, draw the networks, and even recite the stations out loud in order. Practically obsessed with trains, Darren wanted to become a train driver when he grew up, though the idea of that has since diminished slightly. It was around this time that Darren began writing out lists of things that interested him, something he has kept up until the present day. They ranged from train stations and hurricane names, to Wii Sports characters and airport codes.

As Darren entered his teens, he began to be picked on a lot more often, due to his odd interests, having some problems interacting socially with his peers, and also because of his hair making him stand out. To combat this, Darren's father suggested he take up a martial art to build up his confidence and stand up to his bullies. A local sports center was offering Ju-Jitsu classes which Darren signed up for. He kept at it for a couple of years and achieved a green belt, before growing tired of it and giving it up.

It was also around this time when he got into video games, and he quickly became hooked on them. He would stay up late trying to reach that next level, sometimes forgoing homework in the process. When it started taking a toll on his usually high grades, his parents stepped in and issued a ban on the games until his grades improved. Although he still adores video games, he plays them less and his schoolwork takes precedence. Outside of school, Darren partakes in ten-pin bowling. After playing a game with his family and enjoying it so much, he decided to join the bowling center's youth league, which met up every Saturday morning. He also attends a badminton club that a family friend had organized, having been encouraged to join it by his brother, who was also a part of the club. Darren quickly got into the sport and kept it up, playing every Monday evening.

At the age of 16, Darren was given the opportunity to take a try-scuba dive. He'd been interested in diving at a very early age, having seen the divers on TV and in the tanks at the Seattle Aquarium, so he snapped the chance up right away. He enjoyed being underneath the ocean, seeing the underwater life close up without any glass in between. Once he had the money, Darren promised himself that one day he'd take classes to become a diver himself.

Just a few months later, Darren was walking down a flight of stairs at school and slipped, falling down to the bottom and landing awkwardly on his left ankle. While he was fortunate enough not to break it, his ankle was badly sprained. Although it did heal up fine and doesn't normally bother him, the injury resurfaces if his ankle is put under prolonged stress, eg. running for long periods of time.

Personality-wise, Darren is actually a really nice guy who just wants to have a laugh every once in a while. Though he will keep to himself most of the time, if he encounters someone who shares similar interests, he'll open right up. However, he tends to rattle on a bit too much about any subject he's passionate about, coming across as annoying or even obsessive. Though it doesn't happen as often as when he was younger, Darren still occasionally spaces out, his mind keeping on hopping from one thought to another that's only just slightly related, until he's reached something completely different to the original subject. This sometimes results in Darren bringing up a topic that seems random and out of nowhere.

Despite this, Darren has quite a few friends, most of them from his bowling league or the badminton club. He also has a small handful of friends at school, from where he shares interests with them. He isn't in a relationship with anyone at the moment, but he doesn't seem to mind, nor is he actively searching for one.

As for his studies, Darren excels at art and French (getting A grades in those classes) and does reasonably well in physics, mathematics, Spanish and biology (ranging from B+ to C grades). He has to opt out of dissections in biology classes though and do a virtual lab option instead, as being close to actual blood and bodily organs irks him very very badly, something which has plagued him all his life.

Advantages: Darren still has some basic knowledge of Ju-Jitsu; even though it's purely defensive, it means that he won't be helpless if it comes down to a fistfight. He is also quite intelligent, so he would be able to come up with a plan on how best to deal with the situation.

Disadvantages: Darren is not able to keep a sprint up for very long, as he gets tired easily, not to mention his old ankle injury that crops up. He is also squeamish when it comes to blood and guts, so the sight of an actual dead body or a badly injured person will badly affect him. Making new allies on the island would also be difficult, due to him being seen as weird by quite a few of the students in his year. His clumsiness still affects him in his late teens, and would hinder him quite badly, especially if he was to drop his weapon at a critical moment.

Designated Number: Male student No. 006

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Designated Weapon: Railroad Spike

Conclusion: Smart, awkward kids are a dime a dozen, and while we've seen that injuries don't spell certain death, going into the game with one won't do B006 any good. I bet he'll last a while, but people without connections usually get hunted down, no matter how little they deserve it. Five bucks says he kicks it at the early side of the final third. - Christina Stockton

'The above biography is as written by JamesRenard. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Handled by: JamesRenard, Ciel

Kills: None

Killed By: Jumped off a shipping container

Collected Weapons: Railroad Spike (designated weapon, to Kelly Peterson), Lego "Creator" Bucket (from Kelly Peterson)

Allies: Kelly Peterson, Marcus Leung, Phoebe Cho

Enemies:

Mid-game Evaluation:

Post-Game Evaluation:

Memorable Quotes:

Threads
Below is a list of threads that contain Darren, in chronological order.

The Past:


 * Down in the Alley

Pre-Game:


 * J'en Ai Marre
 * Par Course
 * Free Samples with Purchase

V5:


 * Anger
 * Fear
 * Meltdown
 * Adam & Eve & Steve
 * Last Stop Château de Vincennes

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Darren Fox. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''

Darren was a character I was really looking forward to see in action, as reading his profile he sounded quite similar to myself and I had enjoyed reading Renard's other characters. However, Darren was one of the unfortunate casualities of the crash and was adopted by Ciel. Now Ciel is an excellent writer and had adopted another V5 character to great success, but Darren didn't really work with him I feel and it didn't help that his activity with him was rather middling. Which shows as he was adopted in his third thread yet lasted only two threads afterwards despite going over the halfway point. Basically where I'm going with this is that Darren went at a point where the other characters present had more threads and content to their name, while he was rather lacking in comparison. Although from what Ciel got to write with Darren was excellent and I would have loved to see where the dynamic between him, Phoebe and Marcus could have gone. As he stands however, not someone I can recommend - Matador